Award Winner

Article
Jun 8, 2000

Award Winner

Michael Barth earns honor for his role in marketing, tenant relations

By John F. Infanger, Editorial Director

June
2000

TAMPA
— Each year, the National Air Transportation Association honors an airport
manager with its Airport Executive Partnership Award. Sponsored by AIRPORT
BUSINESS, the award recognizes outstanding efforts to foster relationships
between aviation businesses and airport operators. This year's winner,
Michael Barth, was cited for his work in strengthening Cleveland's Burke
Lakefront Airport during the 1990s. He spent the past 28 years working
in the Cleveland airport system, the last ten heading up Lakefront. During
the recent NATA Convention, Barth shared his thoughts on various aspects
of the industry.

On Burke Lakefront Airport when he took over as commissioner in 1989 ...
As I worked (previously) in airport operations, I became aware of how
important service was to the users of the airport. Wright Airlines was
at Burke at the time and they also ran the FBO. As a result, the transient
aircraft always took a back seat to the airline aircraft, naturally. When
Wright Airlines went under, there was really no traffic there.

After
Wright Airlines closed down, there was a push to really close the airport.
They wouldn't sink any money into it to develop it. The FBO hangars deteriorated
and the airfield deteriorated.

When
Mike White became mayor in 1989, part of his agenda was lakefront development
as well as airport development. The mayor was convinced that Burke was
an asset to the city. So, he asked me what we needed to do to grow the
airport. I told him we needed to enchance the image and the appearance
of the airport to make it part of the lakefront, waterfront development.

We
needed to improve the infrastructure — the runways, the electrical system
was bad, and we needed an ILS. The mayor says, ’What's this ILS thing?'
I explained to him that we had a powerplant 3,000 feet off the end of
our runway with smokestacks. The powerplant was vacant, so he told us
to take them down.

It
took about seven years to get the ILS in; we had to work through a number
of issues with FAA. A very difficult project.

On marketing, a major emphasis of his at Burke ...
I also told the mayor we needed to market the airport. He had already
given me a green light to do whatever we needed to improve the look of
the airport — landscaping, etc. The Rock ’n Roll Hall of Fame is only
a couple of hundred yards from us; the Great Lakes Science Center is here.
We opened an Aviation Heritage Park right off the end of the driveway.
We promote all of that together.

So,
Burke was now an attractive airport and it was part of lakefront development,
rather than an obstruction to it.

On
the annual grand prix race held at Burke Lakefront each year ... Ironically,
it was the auto races that helped the airport in the mid-80s when there
was this groundswell of support to close it. The auto race was probably
the premier summer event in Cleveland.

It
was a non-aeronautical event, and yet it helped the airport remain an
airport. What happened two years ago shows how the car race fits in with
the airport. We had the race on a Sunday and in the middle of the race
I get a call that the New York Yankees wanted to come in at 7:30 — three
hours after the race was to end. I said, tell them to come on in, and
we got the airport open and the Yankees came in on a 727. I just made
sure all the media knew about it so they that could see that you could
still function as an airport and have this race.

On
his efforts related to improving FBO relations and, thereby, services
to users ... One of the things we did was issue rent credits to Million
Air for improvements. They could only be improvements to the infrastructure
of the building; they couldn't be cosmetic improvements. We put a limit
on the amount of dollars and it could only be for five years.

Still,
the money was substantial — $90,000 a year for five years.

Another
thing we did together was to market the airport. We went to various conferences,
especially NBAA and its dispatchers conference and its annual trade show,
and marketed the airport together. We shared the costs. Also, I was in
a position to go to the Convention & Visitors Bureau, venues like the
Rock ’n Roll Hall of Fame, and get them to contribute because what we
were marketing were the venues and attractions in Cleveland, and the convenience
of Burke Lakefront if you wanted to visit them.

We
worked together to get industry associations to hold their regional meetings
at Burke to create a better awareness of the airport.

I
would visit potential tenants with Tom (Slavin, Million Air), in case
there were any questions related to the airport.